Key recommendations

The federal government shouldestablish a National Office for Child Safety, sitting within the department of prime minister and cabinet. Its first job should be to develop a national framework to prevent child sexual abuse.

The federal government shouldcreate a portfolio overseeing policy towards children

All institutions should implement a list of child safe standards identified by the royal commission, to be enforced by federal, state and territory governments

Parish priests should no longer be the employers of principals and teachers in Catholic schools

There should be no exemption to mandatory reporting for child sexual abuse disclosed during a religious confession

The Australian Catholic bishops conference should request the Holy See to amend a series of church laws relating to child sexual abuse, including removing the requirement to destroy documents under certain circumstances, and to consider introducing voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy

Anglican bishops should be accountable to an appropriate body in relation to their response to complaints of child sexual abuse

Federal, state and territory governments should make laws to protect people who report child sexual abuse in good faith

Institutions that engage in child-related work should retain records relating to child sexual abuse for at least 45 years

The government should conduct and publish regular surveys on the extent of maltreatment of children in institutional and non-institutional contexts

The federal government should establish and fund a legal advice and referral service for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

Statistics

The royal commission heard evidence from almost 8,000 witnesses in private sessions, received 1,344 written accounts and held 444 days of public hearings

The evidence related to 3,489 institutions

Most survivors (63.6%) were male

93.8% were abused by a male

83.8% of survivors said they were abused by an adult

More than half of survivors were between 10 and 14 when they were first abused. The average age of victims when first abused was 10.4 years

The average age of survivors at the time of their private session was 52. The youngest to attend a private session was seven; the oldest was 93

More than a third (36.3%) said they were abused by multiple perpetrators

Child sexual abuse experienced in institutions continued for an average of 2.2 years

Abuse took place most commonly in an institution managed by a religious organisation (reported by 58.1% of survivors). Government-run institutions accounted for 32.5% and non-government, non-religious institutions for 10.5%.

Of those abused in a religious institution, 61.4% were in a Catholic institution, 14.8% Anglican, 7.2% Salvation Army and the rest in various denominations

As a proportion of all survivors, 35.7% were in a Catholic institution and 8.6% in an Anglican institution

More than one in three survivors (35.2%) said they were sexually abused in out-of-home care, primarily residential institutions such as children’s homes

Just under one-third (31.6%) said they were abused in a school, and 14.6% said they were abused while involved in religious activities, such as attending a church or seminary

The most common occupations of those identified as perpetrators were a person in religious ministry (31.8%), teacher (20.4%), residential care worker (13.5%) and foster carer (11.3%)

More than one in five survivors (21%) said they were sexually abused in more than one institution.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 14.9% of survivors

4.2% of survivors had a disability at the time of the abuse

More than one in 10 of the survivors who gave evidence were in prison at the time of their private session